Immigrants are a ‘main driver’ of the Philadelphia economy, local leaders say

Foreign nationals are facing increasing challenges to working and studying in the U.S., but their contributions to the Philadelphia economy are critical, local business leaders say, painting a grim picture of Philadelphia’s future with fewer of them.

In Philadelphia, “Immigrants are not a side factor when it comes to our economy. They are a main driver,” Alain Joinville, from the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, said at a panel discussion, hosted last week by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, in partnership with immigration-reform organization FWD.us.

The foreign-born population has supported Philadelphia’s workforce growth in recent years. Between 2010 and 2022, the immigrant workforce grew by 50% from 105,600 to 158,300, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. In 2022, the foreign born population represented 15.7% of the total Philadelphia population.

But over the past year, President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed to carry out the largest deportation effort in the country’s history, and put forward a plan to charge employers $100,000 to secure H-1B visas for their employees. ICE agents have detained immigrants across the region.

“If we have policies that are disrupting families, detaining people, sending people back, that’s a huge part of our economy that impacts manufacturing, transportation of all the goods and services that we manufacture,” said Elizabeth Jones of immigrant-support nonprofit the Welcoming Center. “The ripple effect is scary in terms of how it’s going to impact the economy.”

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While the U.S is a global leader in research universities, it could be losing that grip, said Amy Gadsden, from the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Initiatives. Having the best research universities in the world requires the best talent — namely international students that also become faculty, she noted.

Penn has roughly 9,000 international students and an additional 2,000 faculty, post-doc students, and others who “drive a lot of economic activity, both for Penn and for the city of Philadelphia – for the country, for that matter,” she said.

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International student enrollments are down across the country, and students are being cautious about where they apply.

“There is not a guidance counselor around the world who is advising their student not to hedge their application to the United States with an application to another country,” she said.

Penn, Philadelphia’s largest employer, depends on international students, said Gadsden. “When we think about what is going on with visa policy in the United States, what we see is a decrease in international students, a decrease in international faculty, a decrease in research output, that will ultimately lead to a decrease in our position as a leading research university in the world,” she said.

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Jennifer Rodriguez, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the challenge employers can face under the new fee for H-1B visas.

“Immigrants and the foreign born population in general is one that is critical for the economic health of the city of Philadelphia and the region,” she said.

Rodriguez described the additional $100,000, which is on top of other expected visa processing costs, as exorbitant. While some large businesses might have resources to handle it, she said, middle-market companies will be more challenged.

“Philadelphia is desperate to get more of those businesses to establish here, and now you’re making it that much harder,” said Rodriguez. “We are really curtailing the ability of these businesses to innovate, to hire, to really be the contributors to the economy that we want them to be.”

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Immigrants in Philadelphia are of prime working age, noted Joinville, from the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

“Without immigrants, we have a smaller workforce to drive and support our businesses locally,” he said, adding that immigrants start small businesses at a high rate in Philadelphia.

“As a child of immigrants, focusing on the economy can be a little tricky for me, because we’re not just data or money or economy,” said Joinville. “Yes, immigrants have an economic impact, but they are cultural leaders, civic leaders, and, yeah, just good people.”